Friday, September 30, 2011

Power-punk trio JuiceheaD's new studio album, How To Sail a Sinking Ship, will be released October 4 via Misfits Records. Fans can check out the boisterous new song, “Lorraine,” streaming now at Punknews.org.

JuiceheaD was forged from the ashes of several local punk bands in 2003. The three-piece consists of Rob Vannice (guitar/vocals), Tommy Kloss (bass) and Mike Garelli (drums). Since '03, JuiceheaD has toured across North America (including the Misfits Records’ Fiend Fest tour) with surf-punk pioneers Agent Orange, The Adicts and The Misfits.

The new album was produced by longtime Misfits & Ramones collaborator John Cafiero and recorded at Bennett Studios in New Jersey. Fans or curious readers can listen to a single off How To Sail a Sinking Ship titled, “Rotting From the Inside" (Descendents influence, anyone?).

The new album features guest appearances from celebrated cello player Melora Creager (Nirvana, Rasputina) on the punk-goth ballad, “Black Roses” and The Punk Pipers (consisting of NYC Firefighters), adding a traditional bagpipe flavor to, “When I Fall From Grace.”

The band began its U.S. tour yesterday, and will tour through the end of November.

Friday, September 23, 2011

Fat Wreck Chords announced a massive Lagwagon box set and individual re-issues of it's first five albums today, set to be released on November 22. The re-issues will be remastered with bonus tracks. Details on the Putting Music In Its Place box set can be seen below in a video of Joey Cape (vocals/guitar) talking you through finding all the tracks and assorted bonus material, the remastering process and the band's metal beginnings.

Friday, September 16, 2011

The much-esteemed, highly-regarded and all-around great guy (and official public intoxicant) Mikey Erg! unleashed 5 seconds of a new song titled, "The Art of Stupidity." Check it out here. The song will be released on his upcoming solo album, Fucifier, at some unknown point in time by Bloated Kat Records.

Word on the street is that this is actually the song in its entirety, and it will be released on seven different colors of vinyl with the 5-second "The Art of Stupidity" as the A-side and an etching of his mug shot on the B-side. The song is allegedly Mikey Erg's greatest achievement to date, and the mug shot etching was all my idea, and should come to fruition because it's a good idea.

"It's about the starving children in Nairobi," Erg says.

Catch Mikey Erg! in your town either tomorrow or at any given point in the next 3 weeks and take him through the McDonald's drive-thru. He likes that.

Thursday, September 15, 2011

On October 7, Heather Gabel, who has done artwork for Alkaline Trio throughout the past 15 years, will host a hometown Chicago show called "Black & White & Red All Over," showcasing the work she's done for Chicago's punk trio. It'll take place at Johalla Projects. Gabel will also release a limited edition book, detailing her history with Alkaline Trio at the show. On a personal note, I've been a fan of hers since 2001, the year I first saw Alkaline Trio live, and the year they became my favorite band. I've followed her ever since, and have attended a show of hers in the past. I'm looking forward to this one, especially since Alkaline Trio will be more intertwined with her artwork. I know the turnout for this will be well.

The Fur Coats, a new band featuring Marc Ruvolo, Devon Kay and Mark H, posted its demo to its Bandcamp page not too long ago. Check out the four-song demo here. It's an interesting lineup, featuring members from Das Kapital, No Empathy, Devon Kay and the Solutions and other local schmucks.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Grave Mistake recording artists Night Birds will be interviewed and play a live set tomorrow on Crust Never Sleeps radio from 9 p.m. to 11 p.m. (central time). So mark your calendar. The show will be broadcast live here. For more information, go here. For a chortle, go here. Son of a bitch looks like John Travolta. Creepy.

Tuesday, September 6, 2011

New Jersey's Night Birds will release its first studio full-length titled The Other Side of Darkness on September 13.I've been following Night Birds since the band's early days in 2009 (by obtaining a couple copies of the demo CD-R at Insubordination Fest 2009), and I've been waiting around for a proper full-length release of this band for two years. The 7''s held me over, but finally, The Other Side of Darkness is here.In keeping with Night Birds tradition, the album opens with a horror theme, "Demon Haunted World." The song, along with most on the album, doesn't even make the two-minute mark, but it's OK. Its flow into "Neon Gray" makes a seamless transition. "Born of Man and Woman" is a song about Jamie Lee Curtis. OK, it's really not. But it's a really catchy song about a hermaphrodite as a sideshow freak, and not fitting in with society."Landfill Land" is written by Joe Keller, the Night Birds' bassist. Immediately, the band's Dead Kennedys influence shines through with a song about living in a landfill.The album slows down briefly at the start of the title track, but only for 30 seconds before the band's back in full swing, churning out fast, upbeat, surfy punk. In keeping with tradition on a couple of its 7''s, the band has an instrumental track titled "Day After Trinity.""Hoffman Lens" is based off the movie, They Live. The Hoffman Lens were a pair of glasses used in the movie. For example, the main character sees a Coca Cola ad, but through the Hoffman Lens, it says "Believe the Goverment." They glasses are attributed to Albert Hoffman, the creator of LSD and they lenses are supposed to let you see the true meaning behind messages. It's an interesting but hopeless wake-up call to 'the masses,' which are implied to have always been blind to government and businesses' control, and inevitably always will.I was excited to see two of the band's first four songs re-recorded toward the end of the album. "Can't Get Clean" and "Paranoid Times" play back to back, and it's nice to hear the re-vamped, but still familiar tunes. The album closes with "Oblivious," a song about wanting to be oblivious to the end of the world. It's also the longest track on the album with a playing time of 2:51. I recommend this for anyone who's a fan of the band members' previous bands: The Ergs!, Hunchback, Psyched To Die as well as fans of the Dead Kennedys, The Misfits and early punk and hardcore.

The Other Side of Darkness track listing:1. Demon Haunted World2. Neon Gray3. Born of Man and Woman4. Landfill Land5. One Eye6. The Other Side of Darkness7. Day After Trinity8. Hoffman Lens9. Sex Tape10. Failed Species11. Can't Get Clean12. Paranoid Times13. Oblivious

Friday, September 2, 2011

California’s catchy, kooky, jangly, indie rock, garage party icons Underground Railroad to Candylandwill be embarking on a lengthy U.S. tour to support their sophomore album Knows Your Sins, released this past April on LP/CD via Recess Records.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

I've never had the chance to see Samiam. They're one of those bands that I got into way too late in life, but I'm excited they have a new album coming out and they're hitting Reggie's in Chicago next weekend. I've had my ticket for some time now, and I'm overwhelmed with excitement to see this band live.
Even more exciting is the news of a new album, Trips. What's more exciting than that is you can listen to the whole thing right here, courtesy of Alternative Press, Samiam and Hopeless Records.
I gotta say, two songs in and I'm sold.

Despite Hurricane Irene’s torrential downpour and horrendous winds, fans packed the sold-out Black Cat venue in Washington, DC on August 27 to see experimental indie-hardcore band Circle Takes The Square perform for the first time together in three years…and NPR.org was there to record the entire set.

“The thing that struck me, though, in all the twisting time signatures, start-stop dynamics, overlapping screams and metallic chaos, was how 'now' it all still sounded,” said NPR reporter Lars Gotrich. “In a carefully considered set list culled from the band's small yet strong discography, this was the embodiment of impassioned renewal.”

Circle Takes The Square’s energized passion can be felt wholeheartedly on their new EP, Rites of Initiation, which is available now for stream and purchase here.

Rites of Initiation is the first of three chapters that will be featured on the band’s long-awaited new album Decompositions: Volume 1, which is due out in November.